


A History of The DC Universe

by Smokeycut



Series: Earth 54 [1]
Category: DCU
Genre: Alternate History, Gen, Historical AU, lots of characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:21:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23415226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smokeycut/pseuds/Smokeycut
Summary: A look at the history of the DC Universe, from 1938 onwards, told via in-universe historical documents, first person accounts, and archival footage of important events.
Series: Earth 54 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1716358
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	1. 1938: The Year It Began

MAN OF STEEL APPEARS, WORLD FOREVER CHANGED

METROPOLIS - In the city of tomorrow, a man of tomorrow makes his debut. Dozens of eyewitnesses report that the globe atop the Daily Planet building fell, only to be caught by a man who leapt through the air with a red cape billowing behind him.

This superman, identified by his black hair, large stature, blue costume and the aforementioned red cape, appeared to catch the globe, which weighed several tons, as it fell through the air and prevented it from crushing passersby. He proceeded to fly through the air and place it back on the roof, before welding it back in place - with beams of energy projected from his own eyes.

The president is expected to speak on these events in his next fireside chat, though what he will say on the matter of this peculiar man, none can be certain. 

-Associated Press bulletin, 4/18/38

We all remember where we were the moment we first heard about him. It was like the shot heard around the world. The day the bomb dropped. The day that everything changed, and nothing was ever the same again. Me, I was out picking up some fruit at the market with my ma when we saw the paper. A man, flying through the air, holding the globe of the daily planet above his head like it was a freaking beach ball.

Everyone’s got their favorite now, of course; Green Lantern or Red Arrow or Wonder Woman. But if you say the word “superhero”, it’s him that everyone thinks of. Even if you’ve never seen him yourself, you know what he looks like. You’ve got that image in your head. The way he stands in the sunlight, the way sweat glistens on his brow, how his costume clings to every contour of his body, the way his eyes twinkle… That angelic image is- is burned into our minds. It’s going to endure long after we’re gone. Yeah... He’s the guy that changed everything. He showed us that there were heroes out there who could save us from every bad thing in the world.

-Civil rights activist John Henry Irons, quoted from _Superman: An American Alien_ , CNN docu-series

We’re not all fans of his. It’s to be expected, you know. A great many of us, scientists and skeptics and rational minded men and women, we saw the alien lording his strength over us on that day in April, and we felt a veritable chill run down our spines. I remember where I was. I was in my lab, listening to the radio while working on my latest project, when they started talking about the man in Metropolis. The so-called “Man of Steel”.

I looked to Gerard, Gerard Shugel, and I said “Do you hear that, Gerry?” Well, Gerard looked up from his own workbench, and his face was white as a ghost. He had a look on his face like he just saw the end of the world. He wasn’t far off. Our world did end that day, and I said as much to him right then and there. I told him that the old world, the world we knew, was over. It was time for them to leap ahead and leave us, the normal people, behind. 

April 18th, 1939. That was the day that humanity began to decline. That was the day that metahumanity started their dreadful work to replace us.

- _The Sivana Tapes_ , vol. 49

Not everyone realizes that we always existed, but we did. We were just too afraid to crawl out of the woodwork, to pop our heads up out of our little hobbit holes in the ground and say hello. But he was braver than all of us. He stood up, chest puffed out and head held up high, and he told the world who he was and what he was about. 

In the days and the weeks after, the rest of us started to follow his lead. We sewed up these colorful costumes, and we tied on capes, and we went out and jumped around on rooftops and we saved lives. We all owed it to him, though. I’d have never left my house in that red and purple getup if he hadn’t shown me it’d turn out alright. There was just a way about him, this aura that said everything will be okay, that we didn’t have to hide our gifts from the rest of the world. Us, being the suckers we were, believed him. I followed his lead a month later. Stopped a train derailment in May of ‘38, saved everyone on board. It was exhilarating. I felt like I had lightning running through my veins, and I saved so many lives that would have been lost if I wasn’t there.

Despite it all, I still consider that the best decision I ever made.

-Alan Scott, quoted in _Behind The Masks_ , by Snapper Carr, 1979

“He is one of the kindest men I have ever known.”

She sits on the edge of a cliff, overlooking the shoreline. The waves are crashing gently against the pale sand, dozens of feet below us, and she pulls her raven hair behind her neck and holds it down so it won’t blow wildly in the breeze.

“I met him within a few weeks of my own arrival in man’s world, and he was far kinder than I had been led to believe man would be. He had a warm, friendly smile, and a gentle soul. A poet’s soul.” Her gaze softens, and a smile pulls at the corner of her red lips. She pats the ground next to her, and I sit there at her side. “Sometimes people ask me why I look to him, instead of leading myself. The reason is that he never demanded my loyalty. He earned it, with his bravery and his compassion. I would follow him to the ends of the earth, no matter the danger. He is a good leader, and a good man.”

I asked her if she had, perhaps, fallen in love with him. She shook her head and laughed.

“No,” She said. She tied her lasso around her wrist, then looked me in the eye. “I have loved a great many, but he has always been my friend. Man’s world is lucky to have him.”

-”Wonder Woman: An Amazon In The Modern Day”, published in _TIME Magazine_ , Vol.LVI issue 17

KRYPTONIAN DETECTED. 

PLANET: EARTH

SYSTEM: SOL

GALAXY: MILKY WAY

BEGINNING PURSUIT

-Brainiac Headship log

Two things happened today. A man broke the strataspheer with nothing but his own strength, and a new hire was shown around the office. Some dopey kid from Kansas named Clark Kent. Despite myself, I’m thinking more about that farmboy than the man in blue. 

I must be going crazey.

-Excerpt from Lois Lane’s personal journal, dated “Aprul” 18th, 1938

“It’s okay. I’m here now. You needn’t be afraid of me. I won’t harm you.”

-Superman’s first words to humankind


	2. The 1940s: Heroes At Home

Our name is that of our goal. We stand for a society in which justice reigns supreme over all other ideals. It stands alongside freedom, of course, and alongside hope. However, it is justice that we hold in our hearts above all else when we fight. 

We hope that we do not stray from these ideals, and we pray that we retain your trust, and your faith, and your confidence everlasting. Should we ever walk a dark path, however, we expect nothing less than our dissolution and our apprehension. We believe that no man is above the law, and that includes us. So we will hold ourselves accountable, and we ask that you do the same, as we go forward in our mission to uphold justice in this society.

We sign our names here, so that you may know who your defenders are. In time, we hope that a great many more will add their names to this, our charter, in their quest to uphold our ideals.

Green Lantern. The Keystone City Flash. The Atom. Hawkgirl. Wonder Woman. Stargirl. 

-Excerpt from _The Justice Society of America’s charter_ , December 2nd, 1940

Super Steroids? Dyna-Might? Vita-Max? Banshee? One Hour Energy?

MIRACLO.

-From the notes of Doctor Rex Tyler, dated December 23rd, 1940

If 1940 was the year of the superhero, then 1941 was the year of the super villain. That was the year when metahumans stopped fighting off purse snatchers and bank robbers, and started protecting civilians from other super powered folk. In January of 1941, just a month after their formation, the Justice Society went into battle against Axis Amerika. 

On the one side, you had Green Lantern, The Flash, The Atom, Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, Stargirl and Hourman. On the other, you had Atomic Skull, The Rival, Ultra Humanite, Real American, Doctor Psycho, Deathbolt and Cyclotron. If you were to look at the lucky few who bore witness to the cataclysmic event, they would describe it as a battle for the ages. Certainly, it must have looked to them like the Greek Gods and Goddesses battling titans of myth and legend right in their front yards. A great many feared that the battle would spill over, and snuff out innocent lives in its wake. We should have had more faith in our heroes, then, because not one life was lost on that day. Not a single one.

The Justice Society’s roster continued to expand over the course of the decade, as did the number of villainous teams with which they did battle. Many of those names are now little more than footnotes in history books, but it must be remembered that in the moment, they all presented a clear danger to the society that those heroes dedicated themselves to protecting. The Injustice Society was the longest lasting of the JSA’s enemy organizations, but they stood alongside the likes of Axis Amerika, The Monster Society of Evil and The Brotherhood of Evil, which has itself returned many times over the years, in various incarnations, to do harm to innocent people.

- _Behind The Masks_ , by Snapper Carr, 1979

I’ve come to detest these so-called “superheroes” as of late. Gerard was apprehended and imprisoned by the Justice Society in January, and for what? The crime of doing his work. Honest work. God’s work. We are men of science, and yet these heroes wish to lock us away and prevent us from creating miracles of the modern age! I detest them- No, I loathe them! How deeply I loathe them… 

And I am not alone in my rage. I received an invitation today, hidden amongst my morning mail. Between bills and grants there was a simple handwritten letter, asking me to consider, for a moment, that I was not alone in my distaste for the Justice Society. A man, or a being perhaps, by the name of Mister Mind, wishes for me to join him and other like minded folk in a new venture. He has heard of my wondrous advancements and creations, and now he requests my aid.

Who am I to deny him my powerful mind? Yes, the Monster Society will greatly benefit from my inclusion...

- _The Sivana Tapes_ , vol. 3

MEET THE BAT-MAN: _Gotham City’s new mystery hero appears!_

- _Gotham City Gazette_ headline, 10/25/41

I didn’t meet him until the 60s, but Batman was always the hero Gotham deserved. He was a guy who had lost a lot, just like the rest of us. In Gotham, everybody knew pain, and everybody grew up hurting. He took that pain and he turned it into something good. Of course, in Gotham, even the good things have to be pretty damn scary. That’s why he chose a bat. He told me one night, after I had a nightmare, that bats were his greatest fear as a kid. So he took that fear, and he made it into a good thing.

I’ve actually still got a newspaper around here somewhere. The three of us standing with him, see? I won’t say their names, since they’re still not out yet, but that’s him crouching down in the middle. He was skinnier than he looks there, though. Tall and wiry, with a real pointy jawline. He was all sharp angles and he had this low, gravelly voice. But he wasn’t cruel. He was as nice as Superman, you just had to dig a little deeper to see it. He took good care of us. All us street kids who needed a decent path in life.

-Former “Batgirl” Harper Rebecca Row, quoted from _Dark Knight Detective: The Story Of Bruce Wayne_ , CNN docu-series

Batman was the first of the vigilante styled heroes. Despite the rumors, the persisting myths that he’s a vampire or a specter, the Batman is all too human. He proved to the world that one didn’t need metahuman powers to stand alongside the likes of Superman or Wonder Woman. Every baseline human who picked up a set of tights, from Green Arrow to Crimson Avenger, owes a debt of gratitude to Batman for paving the way. 

For three years, humans wondered whether or not the world was leaving them behind. They found themselves asking the question “do we belong in a world of superheroes?”

Batman gave us the answer. He flapped his wings, threw a batarang, and proved that human ingenuity will always keep us relevant. He broke barriers again when Robin joined him in his adventures. No other superhero had, until then, thought to introduce a child to the world of aliens and superpowers. Yet only a few short months into his existence, Batman brought Robin along for a patrol, and that eight year old girl showed that she was just as capable as her father figure by delivering The Riddler to Arkham State Hospital with a flip and a kick. 

These days, Gotham is considered to be the home of the vigilante. Metahuman heroes may pass through for an evening, maybe even a week, but they’ve never cemented themselves in Gotham the way that Batman and his family have. From Nightwing and Batwoman to Batgirl and Catwoman, nobody can deny that Gotham has given birth to more vigilantes than any other city in America.

- _Behind The Masks_ by Snapper Carr, 1979

I met a man today. Strange fellow. Wears a gas mask and a leather duster. Carries around a gun that fires canisters of sleeping gas. I liked the cut of his jib. Wouldn’t mind teaming up again in the future. We make a good team.

-From _The Red Ledger_ , dated March 13th, 1939

Today I made a discovery. No, not just a discovery. To call this a discovery is to trivialize the depths of awe that this uncovering has thrust upon me. Today I found a helmet. The helmet. Nabu’s helmet. And when I found it, deep in a caverne underground, it spoke to me. The helmet, somehow, transmitted words directly into my own mind. It was as though another being was thinking inside my head. I know I sound mad, but I know, deep in my heart of hearts, that there must be a way to prove that there is more to this helmet than moulded gold and ancient Egyptian craftsmanship. 

The helmet, or the voice within it, rather, urges me to wear it. Hour after hour, as I make the slow trek back to camp, it speaks to me with words as sweet as honey and as heavenly as ambrosia. It promises power beyond my wildest dreams, and it swears to seek only law and order. They are concepts I know well, and that I well and truly believe in. It becomes harder by the minute to deny the helmet its simple request. It could not hurt, could it? 

Dear God in heaven, please give me an answer.

-Kent Nelson’s journal, 8th of September, 1944

I awoke today to find that the helm of Nabu was resting in my lap. Robes of the finest blue and golden linens now clothe my body, and an amulet hangs from my neck. They are gifts from Him. Nabu, the Lord of Order. What’s more, when I awoke, I found myself meditating atop a building in London, with a dirigible floating above my head. It would appear as though I have been under Nabu’s spell for just four days shy of a month.

I have learned so much in that time. Locked within the Tower of Fate, I have come to understand the most sublime forms of magic. Magic! Magic, which has for so long been dispelled as myth and superstition, now finds itself given a new home within my body and mind. My old field of study, my archeological aspirations, now means as much to me as a bubble means to an ocean. 

The helmet still calls to me, and I know that Nabu will do good deeds with His possession of my body. In the meantime, I still have so much to learn. Now I am but a novice, but soon I shall be a master. I shall return to the Tower immediately, and Nabu shall cast His terrible hexes upon those villains that desire death and destruction. This is our pact. This is the beginning of our grand new venture as Doctor Fate!

-Kent Nelson’s journal, 4th of October, 1944

A blimp crashed into the harbor tonight. One slug to the balloon. Fire on the water. Police say twenty two dead Japanese soldiers. I’m a good shot.

-From _The Red Ledger_ , dated July 4th, 1941

The Doom Patrol, a lesser known team of heroes from the era, died protecting the town of Codsville, Maine in 1949. 

-Footnote from _Behind The Masks_ by Snapper Carr, 1979


	3. The 1940s: War Stories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this update took so long! My initial plans for this story were to wait and hold into it until the whole thing was done, then update it once a week. I posted the first two chapters early so people would have more to read during covid 19 quarantine, but now I think I’m just going to dump everything I have as soon as its done. So updates won’t be as consistent as I hoped, but eh. Not the worst thing I suppose.
> 
> With that said, I hope you enjoy this update! DC’s WWII characters have always fascinated me, and so I had a blast writing this chapter. And what’s more, we even get to see some of our first true divergences from irl history here! Gotta love those ripples, huh?

PARIS FALLS TO NAZIS: _Will superheroes retaliate?_

- _The Daily Planet_ headline, 6/15/1940

“We are the Freedom Fighters!”

(scattered shouts and applause)

“We are the Freedom Fighters, and we will fight until we draw our last living breaths! We fought the ratzis today, and we’ll damn well fight them tomorrow, and every day after. We won’t stop until they’re gone, or we are.”

“The spirit of freedom rides with us. It carries us in its arms, and it will deliver us to victory over these fascists and their death machines.”

“We are Jews, and we are Frenchmen, and we are homosexuals and we are Negroes. You may not like us. You may hate us. But regardless, we will fight for you. We will fight because freedom does not belong only to the hateful. It belongs to the hated as well.”

“We are the Freedom Fighters. Today we fight back.”

-The Freedom Fighter’s speech to Paris, after liberating the city from the axis

A great number of the world’s first supervillains originated from Axis nations. Soldiers would be subjected to painful and unpredictable experiments, all in the hopes that they might produce metahumans that could aid in the German war effort. Captain Nazi was the most powerful of the resulting villains, and the most well known. His battles with Doctor Fate and other European heroes were legendary, and his eventual death at the end of the war was a sign that German super science was not enough to withstand the might of our own metahumans. 

Baron Blitzkrieg, Per Degaton, Red Panzer, Zyklon and Armageddon banded together with Captain Nazi, under the leadership of Baroness Paula Von Gunther, in 1941 to create Germany’s first official team of metahumans, the original incarnation of The Brotherhood of Evil. 

The name matched their reputation. 

- _Behind The Masks_ by Snapper Carr, 1979

In June of 1941, Paris fell to the combined forces of Italy and Germany. By the end of the month, the Freedom Fighters made their first appearance in France, fighting back against the occupying force. Their membership consisted of The Human Bomb, The Phantom Lady, Black Condor, Doll Woman, The Ray, Firebrand and Red Bee. While all of them were Jews, only four were citizens of France. The others were refugees of Germany and Poland who had come in search of safety from the nazis, only to find no such thing. While the Justice Society of America fought supervillains in the USA, the Freedom Fighters fought against fascists in Europe, full well knowing that many of them would still be oppressed by the very people they were fighting for. By the end of the year, they had pushed back the occupation of Paris and reclaimed the city for the rebellion. 

The All-Star Squadron, a joint effort American/Canadian superhero team, joined the Freedom Fighters in August of 1942. Both teams were instrumental in ending the war with an Allied victory.

-From _World War II: A Heroic War_ , McGraw-Hill, 2010

The Freedom Fighters. They fought for us. They died for us. We live for them.

-Epitaph on The Freedom Fighters’ Memorial, located in Paris, France

Black Condor was the first Black superhero that the world ever saw. It must have been a hell of a sight, looking up at the Parisian moon one night, seeing a Black man spreading his wings and soaring through the sky. There’s no question that Black superheroes would exist without him, just like there’s no question that white superheroes would exist without Superman. But at the time, Black communities didn’t know whether or not they would have heroes too. Black Condor gave them an answer. Sometimes people wonder why so many Black heroes wear blue. Maybe it just looks good on us. Or maybe, whether we realize it or not, we wear blue because that’s what Black Condor wore. Maybe it’s a tribute to the first Black man who flew.

-From _Icon_ , by Raquel Ervin, 1997

I decided to leave a note here on my body, in case I die on this island. My name is Jonathan Cloud. I’m a pilot, US Air Force. I was shot down by the Japanese over the ocean and found myself washed ashore on the beaches of Iwo Jima. Couple of guys saved my life. Gunner, Sarge, Cap. Storm… The four of us are holding down our position and trying to get a message out. But I’ll give us one thing, we’ve got high morale. Know how I can tell?

We’re calling ourselves The Losers. 

-Note written by Captain Jonathan “Johnny” Cloud, dated September 5th, 1943, currently hanging in the Postwar Museum in Science City, Ohio

“It was Johnny that killed him,” He said, looking at me tired eyes. His beard, silver and flecked with bits of black, looked to match the butt of the cigar that was clamped firmly between his teeth. “He pulled out his carbine, lined up the sights, and popped one round into that bastard’s head. He dropped like a dead farm animal, right into the dirt. You always think they’d die special, but truth is everyone goes the same way. No dignity at all. Just a hundred somethin’ pounds of meat and bone, like all the rest of us.”

I asked him what came of the rest of his unit. He sighed, and shrugged his heavy shoulders. He looked like he had a ten ton weight pressing down on him as he rubbed at his heavily lined face with one calloused hand.

“Johnny died later that day. Got a bayonet to the gut and bled out behind us. Sarge blew himself up with a grenade while trying to hold them back two days later. Damn thing blew up in his hand before he could even throw it. Gunner went two weeks before we got to the mainland. Bullet to the dome, just like Tojo got.”

I asked him if he knew who it was that killed Emperor Hirohito.

He pulled the cigar from his mouth and tossed back his third glass of whiskey. The look he gave me afterwards told me that our conversation was over. 

-”This Is The Story of The Losers”, published in _Our Fighting Forces_ , Vol.1 issue #121

I remember when I was a kid, living in Wales. I was inside with my mother one day when I heard this loud, world-rending crack. I ran out the door and looked at this deep brown groove in the dirt that led up and through my mother’s garden. There, laying on the petunias, was Doctor Fate. He was still for a moment, and then his eyes snapped open, glowing all with this blinding, heavenly light, and he rose up off the ground. He looked at me for a moment, then flew off to get back into it with Captain Nazi. They slugged it out across the countryside, and in the end the good doctor won and pushed Nazi back to Germany. But for weeks, all I could think of was how Doctor Fate looked me in the eye and tilted his head. It was like he was speaking to me. Telling me that I was meant to do something special. 

I have to hand it to the bloke, he certainly did know how to predict the future!

-Magic historian Jared Stevens, quoted from _The Books of Magic_ , Pollack Award winning documentary

Adonai, get me through this hell. We’ve been making our way through Japan for weeks, and Hirohito still isn’t in our sights yet. They gotta know we’re going to win this campaign. At this point I’m just waiting to hear from top brass that they’ve surrendered, so we can stop all this damned slaughter. I hate it. I hate looking into the eyes of other men and watching as they die. Ain’t their fault they were born in the wrong country, given the wrong orders. Ain’t my fault I was sent to kill ‘em. Ain’t anyone’s fault but the rat bastards in charge. 

I saw Kirk smiling last night. Fucker had a kid’s doll in his rucksack. Little thing, made of straw and twigs and burlap. What kind of monster takes joy in this? I took the toy out of his hands and threw it back into the shelled out building he took it from. What we’re doing… It ain’t something to laugh about. If I don’t throttle his neck by the end of this campaign, Kanigher or Kubert will. 

-The journal of Sgt. Franklin John Rock, December 19th, 1945

Gerard… Poor Gerard… The man went and chose the wrong friends, and now it’s come to bite him in his behind. I told him, I told him that he ought to have joined me in the Monster Society, but no, he had to go and sign on with those imbeciles over in Germany. We all knew which way the wind was blowing, but Gerard couldn’t say no to the krauts, and now he’s been arrested by that contemptible creature known as the Batman. They found a kryptonite powered robot in his lab, along with the coded telegram from the German high command commissioning the infernal machine. He couldn’t even fight back! The gene traitor in the cape and cowl wheeled him on out of the building and passed him off to the police commissioner, just like that!

I tried to warn him. The poor fool just wouldn’t listen, and now he’s facing charges of treason. Idiot. 

- _The Sivana Tapes_ , vol. 5

Alan, my dearest heart, I write to you now, because I fear that tomorrow may be the day I die. Johnny Quick just came back with word that The Brotherhood of Evil is approaching Paris. He thinks they’ll be here by dawn, and we’re all gearing up for battle yet again. This time feels different, however. I feel as though it may be the end. I’ve never fought this particular crop of ratzi bastards all together, only one or two at a time. I just pray that my light shines brightly enough to show us the way in the end. 

Truth is, this whole mess has got me thinking about that apartment in Gotham you promised me. The flowerbed on our windowsill, and the puppy. If I die tomorrow, I don’t want you to give those up. Find someone else, and love him like you’ve loved me, okay? Grow those flowers. Cherish that pup. Take a long walk by the boardwalk, just like you did with me on our first date. I’ll be there with you, if not in body then in spirit. I promise you that, darling.

All my light to you, blondie. All my light, and all my love.

-Letter sent from Raymond “The Ray” Terrill, addressed to Alan Scott. Dated 1945.

The Brotherhood of Evil’s downfall was considered by many to be the beginning of the end of the war. While the beaches of Normandy were being stormed by ground forces, the Freedom Fighters and the All Star Squadron acted together to battle The Brotherhood in the skies above Paris. Photographs taken at the time (displayed below) capture moments now considered to be iconic, such as Phantom Lady catching Madame Rouge halfway through a portal, Doctor Fate and Johnny Quick trapping Per Degaton in a time warp, or Human Bomb sacrificing himself to kill Captain Nazi and The Brain. By the end of the day, the All Star Squadron stood victorious over The Brotherhood, with the battle’s regrettable cost being the lives of the Freedom Fighters.

With the axis aligned supervillains defeated for good, it took only weeks for the allied offense to reach Germany and Italy. Mussolini’s suicide and Hitler’s capture marked the end of the European side of the second world war, while the assassination of Emperor Hirohito at the hands of the first Manhunter, Paul Kirk, marked the end of the war in the Pacific. However, in many peoples’ eyes, it was Adolf Hitler’s execution by firing squad in the wake of the Nuremberg Trials that truly marked the end of World War II.

-From _World War II: A Heroic War_ , McGraw-Hill, 2010


	4. The 1950s: (No) Decency

The date is December 31st, 1949. Tonight, New Year’s night, I will begin my first experiment with zeta beam technology. If it is a success, if I can successfully transport an item from the vastness of outer space to the platform of my observatory, then I shall publish my results gladly. I want nothing more than for the whole world to use zeta beams to their full capabilities. I want nothing more than to help our little blue dot move forward, down the avenue of progress… The new year will bring us into a new age of science. I can feel it in my heart.

-From the journal of Doctor Saul Erdel, dated New Years Eve, 1949

Tonight, a man died because of me. A terran man, born of this strange, alien world that I now find myself trapped on. He summoned me, by means that I do not understand, and he saw me… My appearance must have been a shock to the elder. He passed away in my arms, apologizing to me for what he had done. Another Martian may have hated him for stealing them away from their family, their life, their home. Make no mistake, I am anything but glad to lose the ones I love, but try as I might, I cannot bring myself to hate him. He did not know what he was doing. How could he have known that I existed? How could anyone?

-From the journal of detective John Jones, dated January 1st, 1950

GIRL OF STEEL APPEARS - SUPERMAN’S LOVER?

With blonde hair and eyes as blue as the pacific, a second Kryptonian has made her way to Earth. She calls herself Power-Girl. There’s your headline AND your byline. Get the message out, I want it on page 1 for the Sunday edition. This is our planet’s second alien, and we’re gonna get ahead of every other paper. I want the article ready for print SOON, West. Sunday, or your pretty little ass is back in the kitchen at home like every other girl in Central City.

-Note from the desk of Morgan Edge, EIC of Galaxy News, addressed to Iris West, date unknown

“Kal El? Do you have anything to say about these other Kryptonians? Are they… Are they affiliated with you, sir?”

“Of course they are. I used to think I was alone in the universe. Now I know that I’m not. I have a cousin. I have a friend. Kara and Val are my kin, and I’m so glad to know they’re alive, and here with me now.”

“I see, I see. To tell the truth, I understand completely. But tell me, truthfully, deep in your heart, how does it feel to no longer be the last son of Krypton?”

“...It feels like a piece of me was missing, and now its back where it belongs.”

-Archival footage of an interview with Superman, broadcast on CBS Television News, June 5th, 1950

Saw a green man today. Walked through a wall. Strange fellow. Keeping an eye on him.

-Excerpt from _The Red Ledger_ , dated June 8th, 1950

I saw a man in a red coat and hat today, creeping about in the red light district. He was concealing a strange weapon. It seemed to be similar to the firearms carried by this planet’s law enforcement, only modified to fire gas canisters. He saw me in my natural form as I investigated the case of the mad monk, yet rather than react in fear of my appearance, he simply held a finger to his lips and crept out the window. We were on the third story.

-From the journal of detective John Jones, dated June 8th, 1950

“I was just a kid at the time, but I’ll never forget the day I saw Barry and Jay speeding down main street. The Keystone City Flash and the Central City Flash, together for the first time. We didn’t realize it’d also be the last. This was back when McCarthy was just picking up steam, and a couple weeks later he got the whole JSA disbanded. But that summer day in 1951… That was the day I first felt that rush of electricity coursing through my own veins.”

-Archival footage from Wally West’s speech at the opening of The Flash Museum, March of 1978

“I have a list here, in my hands, of twenty two different individuals! Individuals, located within the superhero community, who have ties to the communist party. Rex Tyler, Alan Scott, Albert Pratt… Wesley Dodds, Sanderson Hawkins… Charles McNider, Joan Dale, Ted Knight, Jason Garrick… These individuals, a-and all the others they affiliate with, represent an imminent threat to our nation! We cannot live safely, while counting on rabid, anti-American agents of Stalin, to protect us! Our children cannot idolize these people and their political perversions!”

-Archival footage of Senator Joseph McCarthy (R, WI), dated July 4th, 1951

“McCarthy, that rat bastard. Gunning for the JSA, just because they aren’t his idea of what’s normal and decent. I hate that word, Kal. “Decency”. Is it anything other than an excuse to stand on the faces of people you decided aren’t normal enough for your liking? 

We know why some of those names were on that list, and its not because they’re communists. Sentinel, Miss America… Its because McCarthy can’t stand the idea of little Tommy and Suzie looking up to homosexuals. I hate not being able to stick up for them, Kal. I hate not being able to be open about Val Zod and I. He’s a perfectly kind man, but because his skin is darker than yours or mine, they treat him like a second class citizen! We can’t even hold hands in public without being spat on, or worse. 

I want to drive my fist straight through that lousy bigot’s head. I really want to, Kal.”

-Message from Kara Zor-L to Kal L, recorded at the Fortress of Solitude, summer of 1951

“I don’t want to do it, Joan. Its wrong. We shouldn’t be- be forced out just because of some senator with hate on his agenda!”

“Its not just him, Alan. I was at my nephew’s 18th birthday party yesterday, and do you know what I saw? His classmates, his friends, making plans to attend one of those god-awful protests. Talking about the signs they were going to draw up. One girl even said, loud and clear so everyone could hear it, exactly what she was going to write on her sign.”

“Joanie-“

“D’you know what it says, Alan? The sign? The sign’s going to say “Burn Sentinel and Miss A with all the other faggots”. That’s what the fucking sign says.”

“Joanie, please, please don’t cry. It’ll be okay, Joanie. We’ll… We’ll figure a way out of this. I know we will. We’ll hold a meeting, and we’ll decide what to do. But they’re not going to break us, Joanie. I promise you, they’re not going to break us.”

-Wiretapped conversation between Alan Scott and Joan Dale, recorded July 21st, 1951

We, the members of the Justice Society of America, have been proud to serve you since our formation eleven years ago. Of late, we have been accused of fraternizing with our nation’s enemies, of being spies, and of being morally bankrupt. We refute these claims completely, and maintain our innocence in these matters. 

However, the public demonstrations and calls for us to disband cannot be ignored. We made a vow to you, all of you, that we would trust you to hold us accountable. And if our presence is considered a burden, if the people of these wonderful United States truly wish it, then we will indeed hang up our capes and our cowls, and we will hand over the reins to those heroes who the people feel they can trust. We will not break our vow.

Humbly, the Justice Society of America

- _An open letter from the JSA to the American people_ , dated August 2nd, 1951

Today, a man of mystery was brought to justice. The Sandman, known to friends and family by the name of Wesley Bernard Dodds, was arrested on charges of espionage and treason. Also arrested was his co-conspirator, girlfriend Dian Belmont, who authorities claim aided Mr Dodds in delivering classified information to the Soviet Union. Their trial date has yet to be announced, but House Un-American Activities Committee chairman Senator Joseph Cray promised that it would begin with the utmost expediency. 

- _ABC After The Deadlines_ , August 12th, 1951

The Justice League. 

Greater than the greatest, soaring higher than the highest, and kinder than the kindest. They came together in March of 1952 to do battle with an alien conqueror that came from beyond the farthest stars. A being who called itself Starro. 

While the JSA ranged from baseline humans to mystical powerhouses, the JLA were legends one and all. Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Central City Flash, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern, Tomorrow Woman and, the greatest among them, Superman himself. They came together, like a well oiled machine, and saved the seaside town of Happy Harbor from earth’s first ever alien invasion.

They were the heroes that America was waiting for. Stalwart and true, like shining knights in all their titanic glory, the Justice League of America endured not only through the idyllic 1950s, as well as the turbulent 1960s, but even through to today. No matter the changes to their roster throughout the years, they have always been, undoubtedly, America’s finest heroes. 

- _Behind The Masks_ , by Snapper Carr, 1979

I saw a man in my dreams today. I was supposed to be getting ready for daddy’s fundraiser, and I had just put on my new party dress, but I was so sleepy, so I took a quick nap. I didn’t want to, but I was just so sleepy. And the scary man, the nightmare wizard, he was there again. He was in my dreams, showing me all these bad, scary things. Making me swim in shadows and fog, with the scary faces. But then the sandman appeared! He was yellow and red, and he had a cape like Superman, and he fought the monsters, and he saved me. I thought it was just a dream, but when I woke up, there was sand next to my bed, right by the window. Daddy won’t ever believe me, but I know it was real. 

The sandman even smiled at me, after he saved me. But he looked so sad. I wonder why.

-From the diary of Eve Eden, dated June 10th, 1954

The first teenage supergroup was known as the Titans. Springing up seemingly overnight in San Francisco, the team’s membership consisted primarily of new heroes, such as Nightwing, Starfire, Cyborg and Raven, although they did have a more experienced face in the ever-changing form of Beast Boy. Known at first as The Fab Five, the group’s roster eventually expanded, with the additions of Terra, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl and Kole. 

By the decade’s end, the Titans had become the most beloved team in the minds of America’s youth. While their more conservative parents found safety under the watchful eyes of the then newly founded Justice League, the younger generation was captivated by a more diverse and relatable group of heroes. The Titans, if nothing else, were certainly that.

-From _Behind The Masks_ by Snapper Carr, 1979

Three years before the Little Rock Nine attempted to integrate into a white school, Victor Stone became the first Black superhero to make his way onto an otherwise all white team. The backlash at the time, while downplayed in later years, was intense. In the fog of distant memory, its often forgotten that Cyborg was only eighteen years old when the Titans were founded in 1954. Eighteen years old, and he was forced to weather mountains of abuse, simply because he dared to call himself the equal of three white teenagers and an orange alien. 

Victor Stone weathered the pain. He had been weathering it all his life. But whether it was the racists who attempted to lynch him when he was seventeen, or the politicians and protestors who called for him to resign from the Titans, he always rose above them, and proved himself superior in every way. 

-From _Icon_ by Raquel Ervin, 1997

THE AMAZING SUPER-BABY - MAN OF STEEL SIRES A SON!

- _Galaxy News_ headline, August 29th, 1954

Congratulations, Clark. I wish you and Lois the best. If you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to ask. Raising Robin was a handful, and Jason even moreso, so believe me when I say that its alright to ask for a helping hand once in a while. I’m only a single bound away, chum.

PS. Jon is a great name for the little tyke. An excellent way of honoring his grandfather.

-Letter from Bruce Wayne to Clark Kent, dated August of 1954

“Kal, you don’t have to worry about a thing. Val and I will take good care of Jon while you and Lois are meeting the president in Washington. Relax, have fun, and don’t let some mad scientist get you with a kryptonite ray, okay? Oh, I almost forgot! Val and I are still waiting for our League applications to be approved. If there’s anything you can do to speed up the process, I’d be super grateful.”

-Message from Kara Zor-L to Kal-L, recorded at the fortress of solitude, spring of 1955

Accessing: Aquaman  
Accessing: The Atom  
Accessing: The Flash  
Accessing: Green Lantern  
Accessing: Martian Manhunter  
Accessing: Miss America  
Accessing: Starfire  
Accessing: Starman  
Accessing: Superman  
Accessing: Wonder Woman

-Internal logs of Dr T.O. Morrow’s robot prototype

President Eisenhower survives assassination attempt - Mastermind still at large!

- _New York Times_ headline, May 14th, 1955

Amazo… What a stupid, childish name! Feh. Amazo. Might as well have called the rotten thing Gog. It was about as effective, in the end. I’ll give Ivo one thing, though. The plan of attack was ingenious. Had he spent as much time perfecting his robotics as he had ensuring the president was in the audience that night, perhaps he’d have succeeded in the assassination attempt. Instead, the damned thing fell apart as soon as it attempted to phase through a wall.

Still, the concept of an artificial man… It does hold promise.

- _The Sivana Tapes_ , vol. 12


End file.
